The Badgers and the Ducks
by Stone Moss
Summary: Large novels? A basketball game? Racking up points? Strange team names? Tow trucks? Kidnapping Natalie Kabra? What in Gideon's name is going on?


Ian Kabra wrinkled his nose in disgust at the public gymnasium.

"**Two points to the Ducks!" **

He watched sweaty little boys run around on the basketball court. He didn't get it. Why did the bad things always happen to him? Of course, his bloody car had broken down and left him stranded and unable to contact the repair because his cell phone had run out of battery.

So here he was, standing alone in a middle school gym to get help. Many things were wrong with that picture. Of course, Natalie didn't want to ruin her shoes and get out of the car just to ask for help. No, Ian had to be the one to sacrifice his dignity. Stupid client asked him to meet him for lunch. Ian even had to take his jet all the way to Boston just to get some business. Apparently, people that wanted the art lived way too far away.

A shrill whistle pierced the air and snapped Ian out of his reverie.

"Foul on number thirty-four!" The referee called out, pointing to player.

"Oh, come on! I didn't even touch him!" The player argued. Ian scoffed at the player's childish behavior.

They continued to squabble. Ian turned his attention to the crowd. He scowled at the crowd. Half of them were munching on disgusting American snacks and had grease stains on their shirts. Did anyone care about hygiene anymore? Ian's eyes swept along the crowd again, avoiding to look at some of the people. A familiar figure sat upon the top bleacher. Ian looked at the girl a bit more. She was holding a book in her lap.

Ian immediately knew who the girl was.

A smirk tugged on his lips. Things just got a bit more pleasant. Ian smoothed the minute wrinkles on his Armani suit and fixed his hair. He took a deep breath and climbed the bleachers. He easily sidestepped some of the forgotten food on the ground. Ian felt some of the people's eyes on him. Maybe they weren't used to seeing people that weren't completely repulsive. Ian took a seat next to the girl.

"What is the score?" Ian asked, laying the accent on thick.

The girl didn't even look up from her large novel. "Thirty-seven to twenty-one," she replied.

Ian glanced at the scoreboard. Either the scoreboard was broken or she had never passed math.

"Amy, I think you are a bit off."

"How do you-?" Her sentence was cut off as she looked up at his smug face.

"O-oh, c-crap."

Ian wrinkled his nose for the umpteenth time. "Please do not use that phrase. It's rather nauseating."

"_Sorry,_" Amy's voiced was coated with sarcasm. "I didn't know you had to approve what I s-say."

Ian dismissed the comment. "What are you doing here?" Ian asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said, eyeing him suspiciously and losing her stutter.

"Ah, but I believe I asked you first," Ian pointed out.

"I'm watching Dan's basketball game," she said.

"Well, I don't think you were _watching _it." He looked pointedly at her book. Amy turned red.

"Their team loses every time," she said.

"Aren't you a supportive sister?" Ian said.

"Look," Amy began, closing the book and setting it beside her. "As much as I _love _to hear your snarky comments and all that, why are you even here?"

"My car broke down," Ian said, never thinking those words would come out of his mouth. "Natalie's still in the car. Worried about her shoes, I assume. "

"So you are in this gym _because_…?"

"I seemed like the most…public place to go. It would probably be the best place to find help. Perhaps you could help me?" Ian asked, shooting a charming smile at her.

"Me? I didn't know you had a sense of humor." All of a sudden, Amy began clapping. "Dan just scored," she informed him.

Ian turned his attention to the court. Daniel had a huge smile on his face. He looked up at Amy and began to give her a thumbs-up, but his eyes landed on the Kabra. His smile dropped off his face and he mouthed something that looked like a bunch of swear words. Ian grinned at his discomfort. Dan glared back at him.

"Why, you guys get along swimmingly," Amy murmured.

"I suppose we do," Ian replied.

"Why are you in Boston?" Amy asked.

"Someone here is interested in art. They wanted to meet me for lunch and we can talk about a deal. Such a long plane ride for just lunch…" Ian said, grumbling the last line.

"That's cool."

"Mm-hmm."

The announcer's voice penetrated the awkward silence. **"Two points to the Badgers!"**

"Badgers?" Ian questioned.

"Yeah, you know what a badger is, right?" Amy asked.

"Of course, but what a silly name for a team," Ian said.

"How about you tell that to the coach?" Amy gestured to a huge man in the corner.

"Tomas," Ian observed.

"Definitely," Amy agreed.

Another awkward silence settled in. Amy picked her book back up again. Suddenly, a voice rang out to them.

"Amy!"

Amy and Ian looked up to see a guy about the same age as Ian. Who was this guy? Ian watched this guy as he walked up to them. Amy smiled and put down her book. Again, who was this guy? The idiot took a seat on the other side of Amy.

"Hey, Tom," Amy greeted, a lovely smile on her face.

"Hey! Who's your friend?" 'Tom' asked.

"He's not really-"

"Ian Kabra," Ian interrupted her. The guy's eyes widened.

"As in _the _Ian Kabra?" He asked. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad…

Ian smirked. "The very same."

"Cool! Now, how do you know Amy?" Before Ian was able to respond, Amy spoke up.

"Oh, he's like a really distant cousin. Yeah, really distant…" Amy said, and Ian frowned. He didn't like that she labeled him that.

"Oh, alright, Amy what was the homework for Mr. Kalians' class this morning?" Tom asked.

Blah, blah, blah… Ian zoned out on the school talk.

"**Two points to the Ducks!" **The announcer thundered, and half of the crowd cheered.

Then Ian caught a sentence of their conversation.

"Hey, I was wondering if you like to see a movie with me on Saturday?" Tom asked.

"Oh!" Amy looked surprised. "Um, no thanks…" she said politely. Amy flashed him an apologetic smile.

"Okay, see you Monday!" With a wave, Tom left.

"Why aren't you just Miss Popular?" Ian teased.

"Shut it," she told him, cheeks reddening.

"**3…2…1…the Badgers win!" **

Amy stood up so fast that the book fell off her lap. _"What?" _She shouted with a dazzling smile on her face. If only she would smile more like that. The whole crowd was in shock by the upset. The winning team all wore matching grins. Amy sat back down, cheering and forgetting about her book on the ground. When the game was over, the players all went to their parents. The adults congratulated the children. Daniel ran up the bleachers to them.

"We won!" He cried, and then looked at Ian. "What are you doing here, Cobra?"

"Nice to see you too, Daniel." Ian rolled his eyes.

"Oh, shut up," Daniel said.

"That's likely, Daniel."

"Guys!" Amy said, holding them apart. Ian couldn't help but notice that her hand was settled on his chest. It was so small and delicate.

"Can you just be civil for a minute?" She asked.

"Fine…" Daniel and Ian mumbled and then glared at each other.

"Thank you. Now, I'm going to call the tow truck to tow your car, Ian." Ian's face distorted into a face of disgust.

"_Tow truck?" _He repeated.

Amy giggled at his expression. "Yeah, now shush."

Amy picked dialed the number and turned around from the boys.

"Listen Cobra," Daniel started and poked Ian's arm. "I know why you're here."

"You don't even know why I'm here in the first place," Ian said.

"Well, I do know that you're not here for the reason you say you are," Daniel said.

"Is that so?" Ian said, lifting and eyebrow.

"Yeah, do you know why I think that?" Daniel asked.

"Why is that, Daniel?" Ian questioned.

"Because you are a-"

"The tow truck should be here in about fifteen minutes," Amy said, cutting off Daniel.

"Fantastic," Ian grumbled.

"They could've been caught up for more than hour, so be grateful," Amy told him.

"Okay…"

Then one of Daniel's friends came up. "Hey, Dan! My mom's going to take us out for ice cream! Can you come?"

Daniel turned to Amy with a hopeful expression on his face. Natalie had done that a few times to Ian, but instead of wanting ice cream, she wanted clothes.

"Fine, you can go, but remember-"

Daniel had already taken off with his friend.

"Siblings…" Amy sighed.

"Tell me about it," Ian agreed. "Well, I better go tell Natalie about our little issue." Just then, Natalie Kabra strutted into the gym with a distasteful look on her face. She spotted Ian on the bleachers and frowned at him.

"What is it, Natalie?" Ian called down to her.

"Why are you talking to that orphan? Our car is not fixed yet!" She screeched, earning a few looks from the people that were still in the gym.

"Sister, the tow truck is going to be here in about ten minutes," Ian told his sister, ignoring her first question.

"Tow truck? Who said anything about a bloody tow truck?" She shouted, stomping her foot. "My shoes are already ruined!"

"Natalie, please do stop whining. It's unattractive," Ian said, and she immediately stopped.

"Well, I'll just go wait in the car then," And with that, Natalie walked out of the gym. Ian turned to Amy.

"I'm truly sorry about her behavior, love," Ian said.

"Don't call me that," Amy said, her eyes flashing.

"If you insist."

They stood there for a little bit. It was rather awkward for Ian. He hadn't seen Amy for a while. Maybe he should ask her a question or something. Anything to just get-

A heavenly sound broke him out of his thoughts. Ian looked over at Amy. She was laughing.

"What?" Ian demanded, not getting the joke.

"You had a funny look on your face," she said, stifling a giggle.

Ian was about to say something, but a loud scream interrupted him.

"_Ian! This guy was going to kidnap me! I'll sue!" _

Natalie Kabra reentered the gym with a guy in a uniform followed behind her.

"I'm sorry, miss. I didn't know you were in the car!" The man kept apologizing. Ian walked down the bleachers to meet them.

"What seems to be the problem?" Ian asked.

"This peasant just tried to kidnap me!" Natalie shouted.

"Natalie, please calm down. Let the man explain himself." Ian turned to the man.

"Well, we had a call to pick up a yellow Porsche. So when we saw one, we hooked it up to the truck, but we didn't realize someone was in it. I swear! It was an accident!" The man said.

"I see," Ian pondered what to do. He knew that Natalie wouldn't be happy with his decision.

"Are we going to sue them?" Natalie asked him.

Ian shook his head. "No, it was an accident." The man visibly relaxed.

"Thank you!" He stuck out his hand for Ian to shake. Ian just looked distastefully at his hand.

"Yes, you may go," Ian said, dismissing the man. "Take my car with you." The man hurried off.

"Ian!" Natalie whined. "Why did you let him go?"

"He didn't mean to," Ian said, keeping his voice level.

"Uh! The orphan has turned your brain to mush!" Natalie said, pointing at Amy. Ian saw Amy turn red from the comment.

"We'll leave now if that'll make you happy," Ian said.

"Good," she huffed, and walked out of the gym.

"Well, I really must be going. See you later, love." He kissed her cheek and slipped a piece of paper into her hand.

Ian walked out of the gym with a smirk on his face. He knew that she'd never call him. He patted her book in his coat pocket. But now she'd have to call him.

**Two points to Ian.**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Alright! I hope you enjoyed it! It took me a bit to write, so comment! I'd like to know what you thought. Phew, that was seven pages on word. I think that's the most I have ever written for a one shot. So, confetti to that. <strong>

**Meh, this was rather pointless, but I wanted to write it anyways. I thought it was a cute idea so…TADA! **

**~Nataliya**


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